New Beginning
by EternalDreamLand
Summary: "You still have hope, Draco. You can turn things around. It's not too late for you. You can prove to the world that you can be a better man—-more importantly, you can prove that to yourself."


A cloud of fear struck Draco, as the hooded figure jabbed his wand square into Draco's chest. He could almost feel the piercing heat of the tips burning through his sweater.

Draco clenched his eyes shot. This was it. No one was going to save him this time. Potter is dead. Weasley and Granger are as good as done. The irony of the situation struck him with sobriety. He was about to be killed by someone he had sworn to fight along side. How did he, Draco Malfoy, end up like this?

His entire life, he had thought being a Death Eater meant cleansing the wizard world of mud bloods and half-breeds, but then why was he of all people about to be killed by one?

Realization finally dawned: he was wrong about everything.

After all he had done, it was Potter, Weasley and Granger who had saved him tonight. Not his so-called friends, but his sworn enemies. The bitter irony. With Potter and them gone, and his parents trapped outside the castle walls, he was going to die like the scumbag that he really was.

"Say goodbye to your parents, Draco." The sardonic voice jeered. "Not so tough now, are you? Told Lucius that he was gonna pay someday… no better way of doing it than taking his son."

A small voice inside Draco told him he deserved this. After all he had done—all the lives that he had ruined and the mistakes that he had made, maybe death was his only way of redemption.

"_Avada Ka_—"

"_Stupefy!_" A voice screamed. Draco heard a body slam into the sidewall, followed by a low thud as it fell onto the marble floor.

Draco's eyes snapped open. Mulciber's burly figure was lying in a crumpled heap ten meters to his right, completely knocked out. A small form crouched over the limp form, trying to pry something from his monstrous hands—Draco guessed his wand.

This deduction was quickly confirmed as the figure spun around with two wands protruding from her hands. She tossed Draco one, before crouching over to examine the gash on his face.

"That looks pretty bad. " She touched the crimson liquid, frowning slightly. "This should do the trick though… _Helucia." _ A bright light shot out of the tip of her wand as Draco felt a burning sensation on his temple.

"There. I stopped the bleeding. It shouldn't leave a scar either."

Draco didn't speak. He was saved again—for the third time of the night. Why was it that he was alive when better men have died under this very roof? Was this God's way of mocking him? Telling him that redemption was impossible for a vermin like him?

"Are you okay?" The voice sounded worried. "I'm sure I casted the right spell…"

She trailed off, staring into his lifeless grey eyes.

"Why… why did you save me?" Draco slowly focused his gaze on the figure before him— a Ravenclaw badge flashing on her uniform.

"Are you stupid?" He said in a louder voice. "Why would you save a Death Eater? Want to die, do you?" Draco could feel himself treading on the edge of insanity.

"You don't mean that." She said calmly, meeting his fiery gaze without flinching. "You're not a bad person, Draco. "

"Don't you dare tell me what I am, or am not!" He retorted, his voice full of hatred. "You don't know me. You don't know the things I've done!"

She opened her mouth in shock, before closing it again.

To Draco's surprise, she said, "I know more than you think. You took a lot of wrong turns in life, made horrible mistakes, but that doesn't make you a terrible person."

He stared at her speechlessly.

"You still have hope, Draco. You can turn things around. It's not too late for you. You can prove to the world that you can be a better man—more importantly, you can prove that to yourself. "

As superficial as those words might have been, they gave Draco hope. Someone believed in him. Someone knew he was capable of more.

"Take care of yourself, okay?" She told him, before disappearing down the hallway. And that was the last he saw of her.

His parents found him minutes after, in the same state that she had left him-shocked and revolted by everything that had happened this night, but a small flame burned inside of him. _He could be a better person._

**Author's note: This chapter takes place during the Battle of Hogwarts. We know Harry isn't really dead… but Draco didn't know that at the moment. **


End file.
